Anxiety

Anxiety is a disorder, manifested through restlessness, fear and unmotivated worry, in the absence of causes to produce them. It is a "fear without object", as opposed to phobia, which is a fear "with an object". Most of the times anxiety is accompanied by organic disorders: vomiting, tachycardia, palpitations, sweating, etc.

By the age of one, it’s considered that the anxiety of the new born also called "primary anxiety" is normal, from the moment of the separation from the mother.

Children with such a disorder are abnormally frightened. They hinge on their parents, being over dependent of them. They often have agitated sleep and frequent nightmares. They are shy in relationships with other children. Their attention is also affected, finding it more difficult to concentrate.

There can be anxiety connected to school or kindergarten, in which case these transformations appear only at the time the child should go to school; returning home these symptoms miraculously disappear. These children face great difficulty in adapting to school and preschool environment. This anxiety connected to the idea of going to school may be the consequence of the parents’ too high expectations, thus making the child fear failure and the parents’ disappointment.

Anxiety caused by separation is the most common. Generally it appears as a result of outstanding experiences: a strong fight between parents, heavy or angry words spoken in his presence, a divorce, or the classical threats like: "I’ll give you away to the gypsies", "I’ll take you to the orphanage" etc. Also, a longer separation from his parents, without being able to understand their reasons, can lead to anxiety caused by separation.

In all cases, the anxious children hinge desperately to their parents, constantly begging attention and proof of love and security. Any event, exam, contest, etc. worries him very much, causing him insomnia, panic attacks, phobias, or as stated before, somatic symptoms.

Some parents are not able to make a distinction between their children’s anxious nature and the so called "being spoiled", taking their manifestations as whims, stubbornness or just spoiling.

Luckily anxiety with children is much more correctable than with adults.